Term ‘Negro’ dropped from U.S. Census Bureau surveys

Term ‘Negro’ dropped from U.S. Census Bureau surveys

A word that reminds many Virginians of a dark part of the state’s and U.S. history, will soon be removed from census surveys.

The Associated Press reports the U.S. census bureau will no longer use the word “negro” to describe blacks.

Those surveys will now include both “black” and “African American” as options.

The word “negro” has been used in census surveys for more than 112 years. In January 2010, former U.S. Census Bureau director Robert Groves wrote an online entry noting that the term “Black, African Am., or Negro” was used in Census 2000, based on 1990s research that showed an older, mainly Southern cohort self-identified as “Negro.”

The director apologized in the post and said that “full inclusiveness was the goal.”

Additionally, it turned out that a few calls around the country showed the term is not used in most other household surveys.

The amount of feedback received from continued use of the word has contributed to the new change, the agency said, and noted that most black Americans no longer identify with the term.